Podcasts by A History of Ideas

Neuropsychologist Paul Broks on Wittgenstein from 2015-08-07T11:15

Paul Broks looks at the philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein and the problem of "other minds". How do I know you are not a zombie who behaves like a human but actually has no consciousness? Even if y...

Philosopher Clare Carlisle on Reality and Perception from 2015-08-06T11:15

If a tree falls in a forest and nobody is there to hear it, does it make a sound?

That's the kind of head-scratching question that's popularly believed to occupy the time and brains of phi...

Physicist Tara Shears on Falsification from 2015-08-05T11:15

Science is based on fact, right? Cold, unchanging, unarguable facts. Perhaps not, says physicist Tara Shears.

Tara is more inclined to follow the principles of the Anglo-Austrian philosop...

Lawyer Harry Potter on Eyewitness Testimony from 2015-08-04T11:15

Barrister Harry Potter asks whether we can believe the evidence of our own eyes. It's a vital question for the justice system today and Harry traces it back to the work of 18th century Philosoph...

How Can I Know Anything at All? from 2015-08-03T11:15

A history of ideas. Presented by Melvyn Bragg but told in many voices.

Each week Melvyn is joined by four guests with different backgrounds to discuss a really big question. This week he'...

Writer Lisa Appignanesi on the Love of Children from 2015-07-31T11:15

How should we love our children? Can we build on the feelings we experience when we see them for the first time, raise them by instinct and personal principles or should we consult the childcare...

Psychotherapist Mark Vernon on Freud from 2015-07-30T11:15

What is love? Psychotherapist Mark Vernon looks at Freud's ideas on the Greek god Eros, which he saw as a kind of life force running through us, shaping our desires and passions

Freud is o...

Theologian Giles Fraser on Altruism from 2015-07-29T11:15

Giles Fraser discusses gene theory versus altruism with playwright Tom Stoppard whose play The Hard Problem explores the extent to which our genes dictate human acts of love and kindness, and Ar...

Classicist Edith Hall on Aristophanes in Plato from 2015-07-28T11:15

In 416BC the Greek playwright Aristophanes went to a drinking party. The guests included many famous Athenians, including Socrates, and all of them delivered a speech about love. Aristophanes' s...

What Is Love? from 2015-07-27T11:30

A history of ideas. Presented by Melvyn Bragg but told in many voices.

Each week Melvyn is joined by four guests with different backgrounds to discuss a really big question. This week he's...

Philosopher Timothy Secret on Ancestor Worship from 2015-07-24T11:15

If we're to live well together we must first learn to live well with the dead, says Timothy Secret.

At traditional Chinese funerals money, and sometimes paper effigies of goods like washin...

Philosopher Angie Hobbs on Plato's Philosopher Kings from 2015-07-23T11:15

Professor Angie Hobbs asks if the key to harmonious living could be found in Plato's Republic where he proposes that the ideal state be run by philosophers and not by those who seek power for th...

Economist Kate Barker on the Free Market from 2015-07-22T11:15

Is a Free Market the vital foundation of a fair, dynamic and creative society? The father of economics, Adam Smith certainly thought so. Since the publication of 'The Wealth of Nations' in 1776 ...

Historian Justin Champion on Toleration from 2015-07-21T11:15

Professor Justin Champion examines Locke's theory of Toleration through the inhabitants of Spitalfields past and present. He goes to Brick Lane whose famous mosque was built as a Huguenot Church...

How Should We Live Together? from 2015-07-20T11:15

A history of ideas. Presented by Melvyn Bragg but told in many voices.

Each week Melvyn is joined by four guests with different backgrounds to discuss a really big question. This week he'...

Philosopher Barry Smith on Descartes and Consciousness from 2015-04-17T11:15

Rene Descartes, one of the most influential philosophers ever, thought the mind was like an open book that could be read by the light of reason. So there was nothing that we could not access or ...

Philosopher Jules Evans on Jung and the Mind from 2015-04-16T11:15

Philosopher Jules Evans explores Jung and the shadow inside all of us. With archive contributions from Carl Jung and Sigmund Freud; plus fantasy writer Juliet McKenna and Mark Vernon, author of ...

Writer AL Kennedy on Sartre and the Individual from 2015-04-15T11:15

Writer AL Kennedy on Existentialist ideas about the individual. Jean Paul Sartre argued that, for humans, 'existence preceded essence'. This means that there is no blueprint or template from whi...

Paul Broks on John Locke and Personal Identity from 2015-04-14T11:30

Neuropsychologist Paul Broks asks how we can be sure we're the same person as we were yesterday. The philosopher John Locke thought it depended on what we could remember: if we could remember so...

What Does It Mean to Be Me? from 2015-04-13T11:15

A new history of ideas presented by Melvyn Bragg but told in many voices.

Each week Melvyn is joined by four guests with different backgrounds to discuss a really big question. This week ...

Historian Alice Taylor on Habeas Corpus from 2015-04-10T11:15

Historian Alice Taylor explores the idea of justice through history, through the lens of power. Who holds the power? Who SHOULD hold the power? Who does that power serve? And who should it prote...

Thomas Hobbes and Civil Disobedience from 2015-04-09T11:15

Criminologist David Wilson looks at 17th century philosopher Thomas Hobbes and his "social contract" theory. Hobbes argued that the only way to secure peace was for everyone to give up their per...

Philosopher Angie Hobbs on the Veil of Ignorance from 2015-04-08T11:15

Angie Hobbs with Leif Wenar and David Runciman debate and explore one of the most searching ideas of twentieth century legal thought: John Rawls' assertion of the value of a veil of ignorance. Listen

Barrister Harry Potter on Deterrence from 2015-04-07T11:15

All this week Melvyn Bragg and guests are discussing ideas of Justice. Today lawyer Harry Potter uses the ideas of the philosopher Kant to ask whether deterrent prison sentences are just.

What Is Justice? from 2015-04-06T11:15

A new history of ideas presented by Melvyn Bragg but told in many voices.

Each week Melvyn is joined by four guests with different backgrounds to discuss a really big question. This week ...

Ayn Rand and Selfishness from 2015-04-03T11:15

The Russian-American novelist Ayn Rand believed that behaving rationally meant putting your own interests first: you actually have a moral duty to be selfish. Altruism or self-sacrifice are immo...

Naomi Appleton on the Buddha's Four Noble Truths from 2015-04-02T11:15

Naomi Appleton explores the Buddha's Four Noble Truths in a week of programmes asking how do I live a good life. She speaks to a buddhist nun in Edinburgh who used to be a model, and investigate...

Justin Champion on Max Weber and the Protestant Ethic from 2015-04-01T11:04

Hardworking families, alarm clock Britain, shirkers and strivers...there's no doubt that ideas about the moral power and value of hard work are embedded in our culture. But where did these ideas...

Philosopher Jules Evans on Aristotle and Flourishing from 2015-03-31T11:04

Philosopher Jules Evans wants to prove there's been a revival of Aristotle's ideas about flourishing and how to live a good life. "These ideas, which many of you might think are a bit dusty, the...

How Do I Live a Good Life? from 2015-03-30T11:15

A new history of ideas presented by Melvyn Bragg but told in many voices.

Each week Melvyn is joined by four guests with different backgrounds to discuss a really big question. This week ...

Archaeologist Matt Pope on tools and human evolution from 2015-01-30T12:15

There's a tiny bone needle at Creswell Crags in Derbyshire. For archaeologist Matt Pope it's hugely significant. 13,000 years ago local people used it to construct tailored clothing which allowe...

Surgeon Gabriel Weston on medical technology from 2015-01-29T12:15

Surgeons of the distant past were little more than skilled butchers, trying to minimise the agony of their bone-sawing craft. Surgery itself was a last-resort and one you might not survive, and ...

Historian Justin Champion on Francis Bacon from 2015-01-28T12:15

Historian Justin Champion on Francis Bacon's anxieties about the fallibility of technological innovators. The 17th century polymath Francis Bacon blew a fanfare for the new scientific age: where...

Writer Tom Chatfield: Has technology rewired our brains? from 2015-01-27T12:15

Is technology making us less human? Writer, Tom Chatfield is an enthusiastic downloader of the latest apps, an early adopter of anything small and shiny that promises to smooth his path through ...

How Has Technology Changed Us? from 2015-01-26T12:15

A new history of ideas presented by Melvyn Bragg but told in many voices.

Melvyn is joined by four guests with different backgrounds to discuss a really big question. This week he's asking...

Giles Fraser on Wittgenstein and Blade Runner from 2015-01-23T12:15

Giles Fraser thinks being human isn't a matter of biology or some unique attribute like language. It's not to do with what we are but about how we treat each other. Taking the work of the philos...

Barry Smith on Noam Chomsky and Human Language from 2015-01-22T12:15

Barry Smith argues that language is our most important uniquely human attribute. It doesn't just help us communicate, it helps us to think. He makes the case for the distinctiveness of human lan...

Catharine Edwards on Seneca and facing death. from 2015-01-21T12:15

Catharine Edwards wants to introduce you to the Roman Philosopher Seneca. But he's dying. Towards the end of his life Seneca became interested in the idea that only human beings had foreknowledg...

Simon Schaffer on humans, apes and Carl Linnaeus from 2015-01-20T12:15

Simon Schaffer is interested in the human species in general and one member of it in particular. Carl Linnaeus was a Swedish botanist and zoologist who set out the basic structure of how we name...

What Makes Us Human? from 2015-01-19T12:15

A new history of ideas presented by Melvyn Bragg but told in many voices. Melvyn is joined by four guests with different backgrounds to discuss a really big question. This week he's asking Wha...

Historian Justin Champion on William Whiston's Comet Theory from 2015-01-16T12:15

Historian Justin Champion on Early Modern Comet Theory

Those who watched in awe as the space craft Philae bounced its way onto a comet last November should hold a candle for William Whisto...

Theologian Giles Fraser on Thomas Aquinas from 2015-01-15T12:15

If the universe exists what caused it to be? Theologian Giles Fraser examines the brilliant medieval scholar St. Thomas Aquinas' and his argument for God as the first cause of everything. It's p...

Astronomer Carole Mundell on the Big Bang from 2015-01-14T12:15

What put the Bang in the Big Bang?

On the 7th of November 1919 an announcement was made to the great and good of the Royal Society. Photographs from the observations of a solar eclipse had...

Jessica Frazier on Creation Myths from 2015-01-13T12:15

How did the world begin? In the Old Testament it all starts with an act of God, but where did God come from?

Dr Jessica Frazier, lecturer in Religious Studies at the University of Kent and...

How Did Everything Begin? from 2015-01-12T12:15

A new history of ideas presented by Melvyn Bragg but told in many voices.

Each week Melvyn is joined by four guests with different backgrounds to discuss a really big question. This week h...

Philosopher Angie Hobbs on the Value of Conscience from 2014-11-28T12:15

Philosopher Angie Hobbs examines the concept of conscience or moral intuition and asks whether it stands up to rational scrutiny. In his Novel 'The Brothers Karamazov' the 19th century Russian...

Lawyer Harry Potter on Morality and the Law from 2014-11-27T12:15

Criminal Barrister Harry Potter asks whether the law should enforce morals, and if so, which morals?

Should the law tell us what we can and can't do? Or should it go further and tell us wh...

Neuro-psychologist Paul Broks on Morality and the Brain from 2014-11-26T12:15

The eighteenth century writer Jeremy Bentham thought that telling right from wrong as simple: morally right things were the ones that increased the total of human happiness. Wrong things were t...

Theologian Giles Fraser on Moral character from 2014-11-25T12:00

How do you make good moral decisions when you have no time to make them? This is a question that troubled Giles Fraser after he met soldiers who had served in Afghantistan. The moral codes Gi...

How Can I Tell Right From Wrong? from 2014-11-24T12:00

A new history of ideas presented by Melvyn Bragg but told in many voices. Melvyn is joined by four guests with different backgrounds to discuss a really big question. This week the question...

Philosopher Angie Hobbs on Beauty and Morality from 2014-11-21T12:15

Philosopher Angie Hobbs is interested in Plato's idea that there is a relationship between beauty and morality. The idea that goodness is beautiful and evil things are ugly is written deep into ...

Historian Simon Schaffer on Beauty and Evolution from 2014-11-20T12:15

Historian of science Simon Schaffer is interested in the purpose of beauty within evolutionary explanations. Taking the ideas of Charles Darwin as his starting point, he wants to know how and wh...

Vicky Neale on the Mathematics of Beauty from 2014-11-19T12:15

Mathematician Vicky Neale is keen to explain why mathematics is beautiful but also to work out whether beauty can itself be explained mathematically. There is a rich tradition of thought here go...

Barry Smith on the Philosophy of Good Taste from 2014-11-18T12:15

Philosopher and wine enthusiast Barry Smith samples David Hume's theory of good taste. The 18th century Scottish philosopher argued that the appreciation of beauty was not easily arrived at - it...

Why Are Things Beautiful? from 2014-11-17T12:15

A new history of ideas presented by Melvyn Bragg but told in many voices.

Melvyn is joined by four guests with different backgrounds to discuss a really big question. This week he's asking...

Neuroscientist Paul Broks on Free Will and the Brain from 2014-11-14T12:15

Paul Broks tackles an age-old philosophical argument over whether humans have free will or whether all events are pre-determined. As a neuroscientist he is interested in the latest info on how o...

Theologian Giles Fraser on Religious Freedom from 2014-11-13T12:15

Theologian Giles Fraser thinks freedom is overrated. It has become a kind of tyranny or obsession. He is interested in the tradition of religious thinking that understands true liberation someti...

Lawyer Harry Potter on Individual Freedom and the State from 2014-11-12T12:15

Harry Potter is a criminal barrister and watches people being let off and locked up for a living. He is interested in the ways the state can curtail our liberty. His key thinker is John Stuart M...

Philosopher Angie Hobbs on Positive and Negative Freedom from 2014-11-11T12:15

Angie Hobbs wants to tell you about two kinds of freedom - Negative and Positive. This influential philosophical distinction was made in the 20th century by Isaiah Berlin but it's rooted in the ...

What Does It Mean to Be Free? from 2014-11-10T12:15

A new history of ideas presented by Melvyn Bragg but told in many voices.

Melvyn is joined by four guests with different backgrounds to discuss a really big question. This week he's asking...